Hosted by the Anthropology Programme, University of Waikato, 1-3 December 2013
Ethnoscapes, Culturescapes: Anthropologies for the Present (see below)
We encourage all those who wish to propose a session addressing the theme to submit a 200 word abstract by July 15th, 2013.
Paper abstracts of approximately 150 words should be submitted by September 1st 2013.
Please address all correspondence to Fiona McCormack & Tom Ryanasaanzraglan2013@gmail.com
Information concerning accommodation, registration, keynote speaker & the conference dinner will be available soon
Ethnoscapes, Culturescapes: Anthropologies for the Present
The term ‘ethnoscape’ was first used by Arjun Appadurai in his 1990 essay ‘Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy’. Rejecting existing models of the global cultural economy, he argued that it should be understood as a complex, overlapping order featuring “fundamental disjunctures between economy, culture, and politics which we have barely begun to theorizeâ€. The framework he proposed for exploring these disjunctures was premised on the relationships between five primary dimensions: ethnoscapes, mediascapes, technoscapes, financescapes, and ideoscapes.
His use of the suffix ‘scape’ indicated that these are not “objectively given relations that look the same from every angle of visionâ€, but rather deeply perspectival constructs, ‘imagined worlds’ inflected by the historical, linguistic, and political situatedness of different sorts of actors. The latter might range from nation states, multinational corporations, diasporic communities, and subnational groupings, to villages, neighbourhoods, families, and individuals.
Especially in anthropology, the most influential of Appadurai’s ‘scapes’ has been ‘ethnoscape’. He defined this as “the landscape of persons who constitute the shifting world in which we live: tourists, immigrants, refugees, exiles, guestworkers, and other moving groups and persons [who] constitute an essential feature of the world, and appear to affect the politics of and between nations to a hitherto unprecedented degreeâ€.
This does not, he said, negate the significance of “relatively stable communities and networks†based on kinship, birth, residence, filiation, friendship, work, leisureâ€, etc. But “the warp of these stabilities is everywhere shot through with the woof of human motion, as more persons and groups deal with the realities of having to move, or the fantasies of wanting to moveâ€.
Appadurai did not himself put a label on these “relatively stable communities and networksâ€. For our purposes we will call them ‘culturescapes’. In a sense, with the idea of ‘culturescapes’ we return to twenty-first century versions of the more ‘traditional’ sites of ethnography â€" neighbourhoods, communities, islands, valleys, workplaces, organisations, and so on â€" though with the added dimension of their being imbued with “the woof of human motionâ€.
Participants in the ASAANZ-2013 conference are encouraged particularly to pursue, ethnographically and/or theoretically, the concept of a global cultural economy, with reference to the shifting, imagined worlds characteristic of ethnoscapes and/or the relative social stabilities that typify culturescapes. Contributions that fall beyond these parameters also are very welcome.
--
Conference 2013,
Whaingaroa/Raglan New Zealand
Hosted by the Anthropology Programme, University of Waikato, 1-3 December
2013
Ethnoscapes, Culturescapes: Anthropologies for the Present (see below)
We encourage all those who wish to propose a session addressing the theme
to submit
a 200 word abstract by July 15th, 2013.
Paper abstracts of approximately 150 words should be submitted by
September 1st 2013.
Please address all correspondence to Fiona McCormack & Tom
Ryanasaanzraglan2013@gmail.com
Information concerning accommodation, registration, keynote speaker & the
conference
dinner will be available soon
Ethnoscapes, Culturescapes: Anthropologies for the Present
The term 'ethnoscape' was first used by Arjun Appadurai in his 1990 essay
'Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy'. Rejecting
existing
models of the global cultural economy, he argued that it should be
understood as a
complex, overlapping order featuring "fundamental disjunctures between
economy,
culture, and politics which we have barely begun to theorize". The
framework he
proposed for exploring these disjunctures was premised on the
relationships between
five primary dimensions: ethnoscapes, mediascapes, technoscapes,
financescapes, and
ideoscapes.
His use of the suffix 'scape' indicated that these are not "objectively given
relations that look the same from every angle of vision", but rather deeply
perspectival constructs, 'imagined worlds' inflected by the historical,
linguistic,
and political situatedness of different sorts of actors. The latter might
range from
nation states, multinational corporations, diasporic communities, and
subnational
groupings, to villages, neighbourhoods, families, and individuals.
Especially in anthropology, the most influential of Appadurai's 'scapes'
has been
'ethnoscape'. He defined this as "the landscape of persons who constitute the
shifting world in which we live: tourists, immigrants, refugees, exiles,
guestworkers, and other moving groups and persons [who] constitute an
essential
feature of the world, and appear to affect the politics of and between
nations to a
hitherto unprecedented degree".
This does not, he said, negate the significance of "relatively stable
communities
and networks" based on kinship, birth, residence, filiation, friendship,
work,
leisure", etc. But "the warp of these stabilities is everywhere shot
through with
the woof of human motion, as more persons and groups deal with the
realities of
having to move, or the fantasies of wanting to move".
Appadurai did not himself put a label on these "relatively stable
communities and
networks". For our purposes we will call them 'culturescapes'. In a sense,
with the
idea of 'culturescapes' we return to twenty-first century versions of the
more
'traditional' sites of ethnography – neighbourhoods, communities, islands,
valleys,
workplaces, organisations, and so on – though with the added dimension of
their
being imbued with "the woof of human motion".
Participants in the ASAANZ-2013 conference are encouraged particularly to
pursue,
ethnographically and/or theoretically, the concept of a global cultural
economy,
with reference to the shifting, imagined worlds characteristic of
ethnoscapes and/or
the relative social stabilities that typify culturescapes. Contributions
that fall
beyond these parameters also are very welcome.
--
Dr Fiona McCormack
Anthropology Programme
School of Social Sciences
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
The University of Waikato
Private Bag 3105
Hamilton
New Zealand
07 856 2889 ext: 8271
